Across an Ocean
by Peachybun
Summary: (Alternate Reality) After a voyage to America in the 1890’s, two ill fated emigrant lovers (SD) are separated only to discover each other years later, when love may not be given a second chance.
1. Prologue

**Across an Ocean  
**  
*Alternate Reality* After a voyage to America in the 1890's, two ill fated emigrant lovers (S +D) are separated only to discover each other years later, when love may not be given a second chance. **  
  
Prologue**  
  
The sun's radiance filled the sky as the air hummed with a vibrancy that held this instant fixed in time, forever. This was it. This was the moment they had been anxiously anticipating their entire lives. There before the two figures, past an old disintegrating dock, towered the the fruit of their extensive labors, their passage, and ultimately, their freedom.   
  
And, if the darker one angled his head and squinted a little, he could just barely make out the crew milling about on deck, trudging their bodies along as they reluctantly shook the last reminiscences of sleep from their obstinate limbs. And as he stared, his eyes were stunned by a sudden glint of the sun reflecting off one of the steel cylinders.   
  
He had to look away.   
  
The moment was shattered. But inwardly he allowed himself a smile. He would be with those on deck soon. Casting one last nostalgic glance behind him to the rising sun and the wretched decay of his homeland, he turned and joined his fair brother as they excitedly advanced in the direction of their home for the next few weeks, looking beyond the murky shores in which it sat, to the America's.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Her fear was unprecedented they said. She had no reason to feel the way she did. She shouldn't have been feeling anything at all. But she was.   
  
It was paralyzing, infuriating, invigorating. It was anything and everything, nothing yet something, a potluck, a concoction, a torrent of every feasible damnable emotion that she was never to have felt, witnessed, or imagined in the wildest her of dreams.   
  
And they expected her to stay silent, still, a rock in the middle of the stampede of events that was thrown her way. No. That's not right. They didn't want her to stay. They just wanted her stifled. But they wanted her to be a rock all right, a rock drowned at the bottom of the Atlantic where they would ever never have to see her again.   
  
She didn't want to leave her home, her friends, and whoever else remained to be called family. She didn't want to be carted off to some far away distant land like some horse, but that's what was going to happen. As she caught the first breath of rotting wood intertwined with the scent of salt spray and compacted bodies, she was made to approach a contraption made of lumber and steel – her floating cage.   
  
And she was powerless to stop any of it.   



	2. And She Fell

**Across an Ocean  
**  
**And She Fell**  
  
Darien stretched his long legs out as far as he could despite the cramped quarters. He wiggled his toes; they were beginning to tingle with those sharp pinpricks that followed being numb for hours. He had pulled in his limbs and folded up his lean body in order to lay down in the cubby hole that was his bed.   
  
It was only two days into their trip and already he was disgusted with the foul putrid stench of too many bodies breathing, sweating, sleeping, and excrementing together in such close confines. It was the stench which had awakened him; it invaded his senses, there was no nook nor cranny of the lower deck that wasn't blanketed by it, suffocating.  
  
With that thought Darien laboriously climbed out of his bunk, extending one tan limb after the other until his body was free from its constraints. Hunching his back so he didn't his his head on the low roof he looked at his pale brother, and thanked whatever angel looked out for him that he wasn't sea sick like his unfortunate kin. Was he really kin? Family? Brother? What did that word mean? Who knew?   
  
They looked nothing alike, but Darien and Jarred had both been found on the same day, two scared little boys clutching to each other, alone on the cold London streets. The question of a blood relation had never mattered to them; they were brothers. They were each other's only link to a life before the orphanage, and in that bond they shared more than blood, they shared a past.   
  
Even in his sleep Jarred had one hand clutching his stomach, unable to escape the nauseating sway of the ship. His skin though always fair, had paled to an ashy white, and his normally sleek sandy blond hair was affected by an unsettling green sheen and was stuck in greasy clumps to his forehead. His cheeks were hollow from more than meer malnutrition, and little crescent bruises adorned the area beneath his eyes.   
  
Darien chuckled to himself. Jarred had never liked the water, as a boy he always opted to stay back at the orphanage when Darien and his friends snuck out after dark to swim in the nearby stream. He had said it wasn't natural. Men weren't meant to be fish, and besides he had to save his energy and time to woo all of the factory girls that lived across the street. That had only been an excuse, an extravagantly preposterous excuse for a young boy of ten, but an excuse nonetheless, and all his friends knew it. The truth was Jarred couldn't swim, but then again most people around couldn't.   
  
Thinking that fresh air might help his brother, Darien reached out, shook Jared's shoulder, and bellowed, WAKE UP! into his ear. From past experience he knew that his yell would never be sufficienct to wake his brother from slumber, but today was an exception.   
  
Jarred shot up from his fetal position knocking his head into the low hanging roof. OWWW! What'd ya have to do that for Dare?? Rubbing his throbbing temples, his nausea was momentarily forgotten.   
  
Jed. It's morning. And with that one statement, Darien shoved aside the curtain that separated their from the rest of the third class passengers. Letting fly a cloud of dust, the metal rings of the large curtain rattled and clanged against the rusty rod that hung above.   
  
Turning his head Jarred coughed before he muffled his head back into the rolled up shirt he called a pillow, Gee Darien, lemme sleep. S'not morning yet.   
  
Raising one dark eyebrow, Darien said dryly, How can you tell? I say it's morning, and in one deft move he ripped Jared's shirt from beneath him and strode towards the end of the hallway. We're going up deck.   
  
Groaning at Darien's tone and his lost pillow, Jarred tried to do without until the call of the wild, and his nausea, sufficiently roused him from his fitful slumber. Getting up, he once again knocked his head against the ceiling and mumbled curses at his brother's disappearing back. Everything was making him nauseous. Darien was making him nauseous. And as he watched his brother weave in and out between some other passengers, Jared's vision swam.   
  
Not wanting Darien to see his weakened state, Jarred waited until he had safely turned a corner before he shakily got out of his bunk. Only two more weeks. Only two more weeks. Only two more weeks... Despite the objection of his queasy stomach. Jarred tried to steady himself against a wall and at the same time avoid knocking into people as he stumbled his way after his brother.  
  
What took you so long?   
  
Jarred was startled when he almost ran into his brother's chest. He had just turned a corner and Darien was there, waiting for him.   
  
Don't do that to me Dare. Not unless you want last night's dinner on your shoes.   
  
Looking down at his battered shoes, Darien only shrugged. They were scuffed up, beat up, and patched up. Having seen many years of wear, there was crack along the bottom of the right sole that let in the rain and mud whenever he was out in a downpour. The leather was stretched out in places near his big toe and was wearing thin at the heel, yet the insides still managed to pinch his feet. He'd had this pair since he was sixteen, and even then, they'd been used, passed down probably from the orphanage supervisor's son. Darien had never owned a new pair of shoes, neither had Jarred, but that was going to change.  
  
Come on. We're going to the upper deck. You and I both need some fresh air. Darien paused, And put on your shirt, he tossed Jarred the shirt that had just moments ago been ripped out of the slumberer's grip.   
  
Catching his shirt, Jarred only groaned in acquiescence and raised his arms to slip his shirt on before he followed behind his brother.   
  
~~~~~  
  
A gentle breeze blew the fresh salt air in the direction of the two brothers leaning against the railing. It brought color to their cheeks making them seem the vibrant young men they were meant to be. Jarred didn't look as sick, his face had lost its greenish pallor, and Darien's wide frame radiated vitality; however, there was a look to the both of them that hinted at age and hardship. Despite their twenty years, both pairs of blue eyes were haunted by traces of unbearable horrors and tragedy.   
  
Gazing into the depths of the sea, Darien saw his reflection forming and reforming as the deep blue rippled and swelled with each crest. It was hypnotizing. A person could loose their soul looking into those depths.   
  
His revere was broken when his brother let out a low whistle. Darien lifted his head towards the figure which Jarred was motioning to. It was a just a girl, and Darien sighed before looking back into the sea.   
  
Jarred peeked over the side railing to see what had Darien so enthralled before he quickly turned back to the girl. Dare, I don't know how you can keep looking at the sea like that. Doesn't it make you nauseous?   
  
  
  
Well, I'd much rather be looking at the girl over there.   
  
Finally tearing himself away from the peaceful lull of the sea, Darien stared at the profile of the girl in question. She was leaning over the rail, her feet raised onto the lower rungs, staring into the sea, just as Darien had been. Her blond hair was pinned up, but a few stray wisps had escaped to frame her delicate features. Her lips were drawn into a slight pout as if she were concentrating on finding something. Her search was so intent that, to Darien, it seemed as if she would either find it or drown.   
  
She's too young for you Jed, and there are only two weeks before you'll never see her again. Anyway, you don't need to be thinking about women now.   
  
Shooting Darien a skeptical glance, Jarred protested. Dare, women are what I live for. You think two weeks will stop me? Just because you aren't interested doesn't mean that the rest of us men aren't.   
  
I never said I wasn't interested. Just not now. There are more important things to think about. When we get to America, then, maybe after I've made something of myself, I'll look for a wife. Darien looked wistfully out to the horizon.   
  
Sorry Dare, but I'm talking about instant gratification here. He flashed a lecherous grin, Like getting those long succulent legs of hers wrapped around mine.   
  
Gazing at the girl again, Darien shook his head and stoically replied, She doesn't look like a whore.  
  
Grinning still wider, Jarred raised his eyebrows to Darien as if to say I know, but that's not going to stop me.   
  
Darien got the message, but he refused to give in to Jared's argument. She's probably got family that won't let you within ten feet of her let alone _in_ her.   
  
The rest of Jared's reply was cut off as the ship lurched forward, unbalancing him. His fingers clutched the rail, knuckles turning white, and the green pallor returned to his face. Panting heavily from fear, he could only stare at the tips of his boots as he tried to steady himself. My God. I hate...  
  
Jarred realized that he had lost his audience.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Darien had never looked away from the girl, and when the ship lurched, he saw her fall. She had been precariously perched on the railing, half her over it, absorbed in her study of the sea. In the millisecond before eternity he could see her lose her grip on the railing and tip over, tumbling headfirst down into the icy blue depths. She was so distracted by the rhythem of the waves that she didn't even notice she'd fallen until she the water surrounded her vision and enveloped her in its inviting embrace.   
  
Instantaneously, Darien was ripping at his clothing, chucking his boots, stripping his shirt, he dove after her. Panic seized him as he hit the water. Up was down, right was left. He was swirling. He couldn't right himself. Disoriented, he forgot himself. Then the instant of was over, and he remembered the girl. He had to save her.   
  
His powerful limbs fought the pull of the yet more powerful sea; he could feel the sting of the salt in his eyes as he opened them wide in hopes of catching any trace of her blond hair. His hands reached out and clutched desperately to the water in the area that she had fallen. His lungs burned from the strain. He needed air, but before he could go up he spotted her.   
She was drifting, floating. A patch of refracted light had illuminated her figure, allowing him to glimpse her. It created a halo. Bits and pieces of light mixed with water and fairy dust. With a serenity that he had not possessed until this moment, the ocean relaxed, and Darien swam toward her, clutching her limp form, he dragged her back into the world.   
  
~~~~~  
  
Somebody had yelled man overboard, and a frenzied shuffle had begun on deck followed by a collective sigh of relief when a man's dark head bobbled up to the surface along with a woman's blond. He quickly caught the life-ring thrown to them and allowed them to be dragged back on board.   
  
Darien looked with concern to the young girl dripping with saltwater. She was laying limp in his arms, and there was no color in her cheeks. It struck him that at this moment she looked like a drowned cat he had once found in the stream, and he wished she would not suffer its same fate.   
  
She coughed. A tiny rivulet of water escaped through the crack between her lips. And, despite the water that beaded on her thick eyelashes, they fluttered open revealing to Darien the two clearest blue orbs he had ever seen.   
  
~~~~~  
~~~~~  
  
*Yawn* It's 6:30 AM and i would sure appreciate some reviews. :)


End file.
